Food Processors Face Stricter Rules Under U.S. Proposal

By Anna Edney and Stephanie Armour -
Jan 4, 2013

A federal food safety law passed two
years ago after poisonings sickened hundreds of Americans is
finally being implemented by the Obama administration.

One of two regulatory proposals issued today to carry out
the core of the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act would give
companies that sell in the U.S. one year to develop a formal
plan for preventing the causes of foodborne illness. The second
would force produce farms with a “high risk” of contamination
to develop new hygiene, soil and temperature controls.

The law is the biggest change to food industry oversight
since 1938. It was prompted, in part, by recalls of tainted
cookie dough, spinach, jalapenos and peanuts that killed at
least nine people and sickened more than 700 in 2008 and 2009.
Companies and farmers may need to spend as much as $1.1 billion
a year to meet the requirements, U.S. health officials said.

The act “shifts the food safety focus from reactive to
preventive,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement. “We are establishing a science-
based, flexible system to better prevent foodborne illness.”

The rules for produce farms will prevent 1.75 million
foodborne illnesses at a cost of $460 million a year for
domestic farms and $171 million for foreign growers, the Food
and Drug Administration estimated. The proposal mandating formal
prevention plans may cost as much as $475 million annually
depending on how a small business is defined, the FDA said.

“It places new responsibilities on food and beverage
manufacturers and provides the FDA with the resources and
authorities it needs to further strengthen our nation’s food
safety net,” Pamela Bailey, the group’s chief executive
officer, said in a statement. “FSMA and its implementation
effort can serve as a role model for what can be achieved when
the private and public sectors work together to achieve a common
goal.”

The rules were proposed two years to the day after
President Barack Obama signed the bill that gave the FDA more
power to police domestic and international producers, carry out
inspections and force recalls of tainted products in an effort
to steer government food-safety oversight toward preventing
contamination rather than responding once problems occur.

48 Million Cases

Over the past two decades, the food industry has taken on
much of the FDA’s role in ensuring that what Americans eat is
safe, a Bloomberg Markets magazine report in November showed.
The agency can’t oversee its jurisdiction of $1.2 trillion in
annual food sales, leading to an audit system that gave sterling
marks to a cantaloupe farm, an egg producer, a peanut processor
and a ground-turkey plant -- either before or right after they
supplied toxic food, according to the report.

Almost 48 million people contract foodborne illnesses in
the U.S. each year, leading to 130,000 hospitalizations and
3,000 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. The law’s supporters say it will curb those
illnesses, which cost the U.S. an estimated $152 billion a year.

The rules “really go to the heart of the problems we’ve
had with food safety in recent years,” Jean Halloran, director
of food policy initiatives at the Yonkers, New York-based
advocacy group Consumers Union.

United Fresh Produce Association, a trade group for the
fruit and vegetable industry, said it’s reviewing the proposed
regulations and will work with the FDA and others to ensure the
final rules are “practical and effective.”

‘Big Step’

The regulations are subject to a 120-day public comment
period and may change before taking effect.

“The FDA knows that food safety, from farm to fork,
requires partnership with industry, consumers, local, state and
tribal governments, and our international trading partners,”
FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, said in the statement. “Our
proposed rules reflect the input we have received from these
stakeholders and we look forward to working with the public as
they review the proposed rules.”

Michael Taylor, deputy commissioner for foods at the FDA,
said the proposed rules will encompass preventive control for
food facilities and a produce safety rule that covers growing
and packing of fruits and vegetables on farms.

“These are two real substantive rules that aim for
prevention and protection of the food supply,” Taylor said in
an interview. “It’s a big step.”

Limited Enforcement

The produce rule attempts to address water quality, worker
hygiene, materials that are put into the soil and animals that
enter growing fields, Taylor later said on a conference call
with reporters. The FDA attempted to tailor the regulations, for
example, differentiating between water used on crops and
otherwise and between produce consumers typically eat raw and
those such as potatoes and artichokes that are cooked, he said.

“Americans want to know that the food coming from China,
Mexico, and elsewhere is subject to the same standards,
inspection, testing, and other regulatory improvements mandated
for the domestic food industry,” Caroline Smith DeWaal, the
consumer group’s food safety director, said.

The FDA said it will issue additional rules related to
verifying that food products from overseas are as safe as
domestic products, and to accreditation standards for third-
party food safety audits overseas.

One of the biggest challenges for the government is how to
enforce the new rules amid budget constraints.

“FDA may do some inspections but we have limited resources
to do inspections,” Taylor told reporters on the conference
call. “We expect much of the oversight to come at the state and
local level.”